Chapter 46: Too Proud to Know Heaven

Collect information, establish an intelligence network.

The former just requires eyes and ears; the latter is far harder.

What is most important in intelligence?

Secrecy!

And timeliness!

This brings up an issue: communication!

Haven't you seen how the imperial court spent vast sums to build its courier stations?

For a small gang to establish a complete intelligence system is no less than a fool's dream.

Guan Tong knows this, and Chen Mu also understands it.

The position of "Director of the External Affairs Hall," Chen Mu realized after returning, was deliberately created by Guan Tong to win him over.

Just like the earlier "Inspector," the main purpose is to pay people.

Collecting information is merely a side task.

After all, giving Chen Mu money requires a legitimate excuse.

How to spend the one hundred thousand taels in operating funds is entirely up to Chen Mu.

Even if Chen Mu embezzles it all, Guan Tong won't say a word.

But if he truly takes it all, then when Guan Tong later asks Chen Mu to do something, Chen Mu won't be able to refuse.

Take someone's money, relieve their troubles.

It applies everywhere.

Therefore, the External Affairs Hall must show activity; Chen Mu cannot build a full intelligence network, but he must establish its basic structure.

As long as the External Affairs Hall operates normally, he has fulfilled his duty.

What remains—collecting, organizing, and analyzing information—comes afterward.

This requires manpower, a great deal of it.

So.

After the External Affairs Hall's headquarters was established, Chen Mu immediately selected suitable personnel within the gang.

Although they were gathering ordinary information, not acting as spies, the suitability of these personnel still mattered greatly.

Handsome men, ugly men, fierce-looking men, tall men, thin men, fat men, short men, too pale men, too dark men—all were unsuitable!

Intelligence operatives must have plain faces and average builds.

Of course, those with honest, dull, or simple personalities are also unsuitable.

They must be sharp-witted!

The members of the Big Knife Gang came in all varieties.

Yet after a full review, not even forty met the criteria.

Chen Mu claimed all of them; no one refused.

First, Chen Mu acted on Guan Tong's orders; second, he offered a high salary: thirty taels per month!

That was six to seven times higher than a regular gang member's pay; only a fool would decline.

Besides runners, Chen Mu also recruited several literate men who could write and draw to serve as record clerks.

Altogether, he gathered forty men, organized into four small squads, each led by a junior commander.

With personnel secured, basic training was needed.

Even if you've never eaten pork, you've seen pigs run.

Drawing on intelligence networks from some of his past-life films and dramas, Chen Mu gathered everyone for a lesson on information collection.

While he was frantically busy, a rumor about Chen Mu began spreading within the inner city of Nanyun Prefecture.

"Have you heard? The leader of a gang in the outer city is only sixteen and has already broken through to the fourth level of Postnatal Realm—he calls himself 'Nanyun's Number One Youth'!"

"How arrogant! Number One Youth? He'll break his own teeth."

"He's not even sixteen; having Postnatal Fourth Level at that age is indeed a genius. Youthful arrogance is understandable."

"Hmph, 'Nanyun's Number One Youth' isn't a title anyone can claim. Several within the inner city's major factions are also at Postnatal Fourth Level and under sixteen."

"Yes, Tang Tianhao of the Tang family and Zheng Qianrou of the Zheng family are both fifteen or sixteen and at Postnatal Fourth Level!"

"And Guo Jinquan of the Guo family has the same cultivation. The Big Knife Gang and Chen Mu are utterly presumptuous! Then again, what vision can a bottom-tier gang member possibly have?"

…

Tea houses, taverns, inns, brothels…

In every venue within the inner city, Chen Mu's arrogant words were circulating.

Nanyun's Number One Youth!

"Bang~"

In a private room of a tavern in the inner city, Guo Jinquan slammed his fist on the table, making the dishes tremble twice.

"What kind of dogshit Big Knife Hall chief is this? A stinking fish and rotten shrimp dares to call himself 'Nanyun's Number One Youth'?"

Guo Jinquan frowned, his face filled with disgust, and stood up. "Let's go to the outer city—I want to see just how much power this Chen Mu has to dare step on my head!"

"Full Young Master, calm down," said a round-faced man, rising and smiling. "These bottom-dwelling peasants don't know heaven's height or earth's thickness—no need for you to act. I'll send someone to teach him a lesson."

"Can you find someone fifteen or sixteen, at Postnatal Fourth Level?" Guo Jinquan looked at the man.

"This…," the man's expression stiffened, and he chuckled awkwardly, "it's just a lesson—find someone with higher cultivation…"

"Forget it."

Guo Jinquan waved his hand as he walked out. "Sending someone with higher cultivation to teach him a lesson makes us look like we can't handle him. And don't forget—Chen Mu's rumored to have an Innate Realm master behind him! Deliberately targeting him risks losing more than you gain!"

"Yes, yes, Full Young Master is right," the man hurriedly agreed, secretly relieved.

He almost forgot — behind Chen Mu, there was rumored to be an Innate Realm expert!

The rumors circulating in the teahouses and taverns only revealed that Chen Mu was a hall master of the Great Blade Gang.

That Chen Mu was suspected to have an Innate Realm "master" had not spread; one had to go to the eastern district of the outer city and investigate in person to learn this piece of information.

For that reason, Guo Jinquan had the standing to call Chen Mu a mud-legged nobody, a rotten fish and shrimp — but he did not.

……

……

"Tang family, Tang Tianhao, greets Brother Chen!"

In the outer city, eastern district, Changlong Ward, Chen Mu had just stepped out of the hall's main gate when a sturdy youth — about 1.8 meters tall, thick-armed, baby-faced, yet with very obvious qi and blood fluctuations — blocked his path.

"Brother Chen has styled himself the 'Number One Youth of Nanyun.' Tianhao is untalented, but wishes to seek some pointers. I ask Brother Chen not to stint in teaching me!"

As Tang Tianhao spoke, he stepped back two paces and settled into a stance.

"……"

Chen Mu's brows knit slightly as he thought to himself.

Number One Youth of Nanyun?

Who gave him this hatred-attracting title?

"I'm sorry, but I have never said anything about being number one."

Chen Mu cupped his fist and said, "Brother Tang comes from a prestigious house, his strength is formidable. Chen Mu knows himself to be no match, and has nothing to teach. Please understand."

Having said that, he clasped his fist in a salute, stepped around Tang Tianhao, and strode away.

Tang Tianhao was stunned for a moment, lowered his hands, and followed behind, continuing to say, "Then is it also false that Brother Chen is not yet sixteen, and is at the fourth layer of the Postnatal realm?"

"……That part is true." Chen Mu replied as he walked.

"If it's true, then that's fine." Tang Tianhao quickened his pace until he was shoulder to shoulder with Chen Mu. "Brother Chen's realm is the same as mine, so we can still spar."

"Better forget it." Chen Mu declined politely. "Realm doesn't represent combat power. I only reached this State of Breakthrough by sheer dogshit luck — I can't compare with Brother Tang…"

"You are Chen Mu?"

A shout rang out. A girl in brocade clothes, with Bai Xi skin, a flat figure, and a spirited, vigorous air, blocked the middle of the road, stared straight at Chen Mu, and called out in a clear, sharp voice.

"So it was you who styled yourself the 'Number One Youth of Nanyun'? Zheng family, Zheng Qianrou, here to seek a lesson!"